Fascists everywhere.

Though how stupid was I for agreeing to take the kids to see Polar Express? I'd read about a quarter of a review at some point and vaguely remembered it had something to do with Santa, but the spousal unit didn't want to take the kids to see Spongebob (I have no idea why; he likes Spongebob more than I do, and I like me some Spongebob). So we went at some weird off time and the theater was still surprisingly crowded, and the movie was in fact all about the Holy Grail of getting to see Santa. The animation was pretty ooh la la. And of course Prima will go through her usual Jewish kid Christmas envy that we suffer through every year. Secundo kept telling her Santa isn't real, but Prima still retains the wonder. Except, important except, we're JEWISH, and I've already told her that Santa's an idea.

Also, as I was watching I was musing that a lot of Christmas movies have to do with preventing Christmas, playing on some anticipation/anxiety thing that most kids must go through (which I guess makes sense, what with all the buildup, Advent calendars, etc.): there's the Grinch, of course, and this movie ("We can't have Christmas w/o the Polar Express"), and some movie to the effect that "Maybe this year there won't be a Christmas" that I desperately wanted to see when I was about five. Not to mention, come to think of it, It's a Wonderful Life (entire life prevented, not just Christmas).

My final thought was how creepy it was when all the kids and elves started singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and the camera (animation?) panned out to show this enormous scene of all these little red elves and there was this swell of voices (yes, it would have been funnier to this Boomer if they'd used the Springsteen version, but it's not my holiday), singing about Panoptical Santa. Course, any time I see enormous demonstrations in a town square featuring people dressed alike, I flash on various totalitarian movements of the last century....